Screenplays have a very unique format - but within the boundaries of that format are innumerable ways of expresing the content. Some are brief, mostly dialog, virtually no description of action. Some are lengthy, a long narrative chock full of the exact vision the screenwriter had.
I suppose I fall toward the latter.
Directors want to create their own vision of the screenplay and so many tend to dislike being told exactly what to do every second of screentime. The writer will be either terribly pleased or terribly disappointed in what they'll see at the cinema. We hope for the former here. (I specify only director here, though we all know that it takes an enormous group of dedicated and hard working folks to bring a script to the screen!)
Actors want to bring their characters to life - and each actor will bring elements to the character the writer never dreamed of. Again, terribly pleased or terribly disappointed...
I can't possibly go against my nature - I'm verbose on paper. BUT, I know I must cut back on Action description in the screenplay - but where...? It's difficult to separate oneself from the story which comes from an elusive place in our brain and soul and heart. I'm constantly refocusing on: 1) what is it that I absolutely NEED to see on the screen and 2) what is absolutely vital for the actor to portray the line as I intended.
The best part about a script or play making it into production is that it is a team effort. The script is the start, the seed, if you will, and we, as writers, watch it flourish from then. I will always be amazed at how complex the bloom grows, how its petals form and how they are colored, how thick the stalk is, how many leaves it carries, does it have thorns? As the architect of the seed, I am always astounded at what that tiny seed can become.
For the first read through of IMPUNITY, I could not have been happier than on the first day of production or its premier. (Never think small!)
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